What Does It Mean When I Say
by Tomazine
Summary: ...America?


America is everybody's son.

America has Veneziano's energy with France's meddling tendencies and mercurial sexuality; China's easy, smoldering anger and the quietly accepting qualities of Japan. Everyone saw him during the Civil War, during World War Two, with Osama Bin Laden- he's been even more psychotic than Russia sometimes, sometimes Russia and Belarus combined. He's got Canada's passion for sports, Prussia's for "awesome", and Austria's for music; Spain gave him good cheer and Ukraine sometimes-annoying innocence. He has a tendency for bizarre planning and solutions that smacks of Romano. He has a very laid-back people courtesy of the Caribbean and the vacation islands, and he's extremely polite and knows many things, even if he's not usually very obvious about it, due to a good English upbringing. Sweden, Switzerland and Germany gave him strength, a good crime-and-punishment system and military organization, and Hungary and Lithuania both gave him a need to help those in need and not to hurt people excessively- "I'm the hero." He has Poland's speech patterns and strange priorities, and Denmark's ability to evade questions. He has Iceland's stubbornness and attunement with his surroundings and Norway's persistence.

Sure he's more some people than others, but nobody can deny they see themselves at a young age in him, except Prussia who insists that he was far more awesome. But then again, Prussia made the boy a man, Prussia turned the revolutionary group of scruffy ragtags into an army, Prussia turned the colony into a country- Prussia's always assumed the role of a coach around him, until the demolition of the Berlin Wall.

Only Matthew has seen the quiet side- when Lithuania, when Spain, when Japan comes out from where the hero has hidden them. It kind of hurts to see America sprawled face-down on a Stars-and-Stripes print bedspread, silent. Nobody likes the rambunctious idiot, but when the depressed philosopher emerges all goes to hell.

Despite this, France can see himself in the way America carries himself, antagonizes England, tries his best to protect his people. Italy can see- _everyone _can see- the hidden past, the scrappy façade. Japan can see his desire to relate, Belgium and Spain have his love for mankind (except the fascist anarchist Nazi communist liberals who oppose his good democratic society, he'll say, grinning, but everyone knows he'd save one if it were falling off a cliff and everyone knows he's been a gay rights activists since it's been a thing, and everyone knows he's secretly independent) hell, even Austria can see the love of the mind, and is very proud of America for inventing jazz that one time he lent him the saxophone.

There's a reason they call America the melting pot, there's a reason there are so few ethnic Americans. He cares, unconditionally- for his people, for Europe, for Asia, for the world. He's fought for freedom since before England And they let him, because one day he'll be as broken and jaded as the rest of them, and everyone will see the demented thinker that comes out when he's alone, except that explains the atom bomb, explains the Civil War, explains slavery and brutality and Switzerland can see himself in how Pakistan and her friends like hurting him and he replies with machine guns when all he needs is a flyswatter.

And yet, there are immigrant Pakistani-Americans who speak better Hindi than English, and yet they're still Americans, aren't they? Facing discrimination and living on and doing everything they came to this country to do- America is strong like iron and silk, like China.

Sometimes, America thinks, he can see the ghost of Mother Cherokee at the window, and if he goes inside he can see Lennilenape at the stairs and Lakota smiling from the attic rafters. Cahito and Tabasco Chontal and Okwanuchu-

But no, they're still there. Maybe less, but there's a reason they're ghosts and not yet dead. He can bring them back. Norway's persistence again, and England's passion for the occult.

He should have died, everyone agrees on that, the revolutionary victory should have been a failure and England should have crushed him. But for it was America and his Americans, with France and Spain and Lithuania and Hesse and Prussia, who shouldn't have been persuaded to help but for it was America, and nobody can really decide whether it was a good thing.

England prides himself on having raised him- he may often ask "where did I go wrong?" or "what happened to him?" but he's a good boy, really- but even he can see France and Italy, traces of Germany from the NGAA and, since they're so resistant, Spain and Portugal from after the Treaty of Tordesillas. There's Poland in the way he speaks, and Denmark in the way he acts, and Russia in the way he thinks.

America may be England's brother, but he's everybody's son.


End file.
